Planetary Collision

Notes

Planetary collisions are a very rare event in any solar system. In 2369 the Enterprise-D was able to study an especially rare event - the collision of two large gas giants. These planets were so large that the combination of the two was expected to result in a new star, an event never before witnessed by the Federation.

Unfortunately, the Enterprise experienced considerable technical difficulties in the run-up to the impact due to a malfunctioning holodeck program. This resulted in a temporary loss of control over the ship - for a time it even appeared that the formation of the new star would lead to the destruction of the Enterprise. Thankfully some quick thinking on the part of the Captain and third officer led to a satisfactory resolution, and the ship was able to observe the impact as planned.

The event went according to projections; a new star was indeed formed, providing large amounts of data for Federation astronomers.1